Evergreen Freedom Foundation

Freedom Foundation, formerly known as the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, is a libertarian think tank based in Olympia, WA whose mission is "to advance individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited, accountable government" by, for example, filing suit again Washington Governor Chris Gregoire for refusing "to turn over public records on more than 500 occasions in the last four years."

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
Bob Williams, Founder of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, is on the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) as of 2011. He is also on the ALEC Board of Scholars as of 2011.

History
Evergreen Freedom Foundation was founded in 1991 as a private, non-profit public policy think-tank in Washington State. Its efforts center around public policy research and alternatives in these core areas: state budget and tax policy, education, labor policy, property rights, legal policy, and citizenship and governance. The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is, according to the "Seattle Times", a libertarian think tank, based in Olympia, Washington, founded by Bob Williams, a former state legislator and gubernatorial candidate.

EFF’s mission is to advance individual liberty, free enterprise, and limited, accountable government.

During Dino Rossi's failed attempt to gain the Washington State governorship through a court challenge to the recount process, Evergreen Freedom Foundation provided strong ideological support. They pushed a "Voter Integrity Project" which focused on requiring voter ID to prevent voter fraud and started a "Grassroots Washington" group.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation neither solicits nor accepts funds from public sources. All programs and activities are funded by private donations and grants. Its funding comes from individuals, corporations and numerous private foundations.

Causes
Freedom Foundation's main "causes" are: Budget and taxes, Educations, property rights, business and labor, 1st principles and voting and constitutional law.

Funding
In 2008, Freedom Foundation had a total revenue of $2.5 million and a total expense of $2.6 million.

Media Transparency reported this: "In fact, foundation tax records show that more than one-third of Evergreen’s support comes from out-of-state foundations -- most of them financed by advocates of anti-public education efforts, including school vouchers, or anti-labor activity including "paycheck protection." Several Evergreen contributors have strong ties to the State Policy Network, the national string of smaller think tanks that promote conservative agendas in their respective states. Evergreen is a SPN member and Evergreen President Bob Williams is on the SPN President’s Advisory Council."


 * The Walton Family Foundation
 * The Indianapolis-based Milton and Rose Friedman, founded by leading national voucher advocate Milton Friedman
 * The Sarah Scaife Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pa., controlled by national conservative figure Richard M. Scaife
 * The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a leading financial supporter of the Milwaukee voucher program and controversial contributor to far-right causes.
 * The Roe Foundation, founded by the late Thomas Roe, a prominent Heritage Foundation supporter and co-founder of the State Policy Network
 * Foundation for Partnerships Trust, funded and run by William Edgerly, CEO emeritus of State Street Bank and Trust of Boston
 * The Gilder Foundation, run by New York stockbroker Richard Gilder. The foundation, which supports conservative think tanks and voucher groups.
 * Jacquelin Hume Foundation of San Francisco, run by survivors of longtime California Reagan advisor Jacquelin Hume, including William Hume

More Information at: Media Transparency.

Leadership

 * Bob Williams: Founder and Senior Fellow of the Freedom Foundation. Williams is a visiting fellow with George Mason University’s Mercatus Center State and Local Policy Project, a Charles Koch-funded project, and is the President of State Budget Solutions. He is an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) scholar and has served on several ALEC Task Forces.
 * Lynn Harsh: Co-Founder and former CEO of the Freedom Foundation

Personnel
(as of September 2005)
 * Bob Williams President, Senior Research Fellow
 * Lois Beard - Chief Operations Officer
 * Jonathan Bechtle - Project Coordinator/Legal Analyst, Voter Integrity Project
 * Ryan Bedford - Legal Research Assistant
 * S. Alex Bohler - Policy Analyst
 * Denise Brandt - Volunteer Coordinator / Office Assistant
 * Bob Edelman - Director, Voter Integrity Project
 * Irene Endicott - Puget Sound Dev. Associate
 * Marie Giger - Office Manager
 * Lynn Harsh - Senior Vice President
 * Cheryl Hymes - Director, Health Care Reform Center
 * Gail Kramer - Financial Assistant
 * Kathy McDonald - Southwest Washington Development Associate
 * Juliana McMahan - Member Services Director / Executive Administrator
 * Jason Mercier - Senior Budget Analyst, Economic Policy Center
 * Kristen Mercier - Policy Analyst/Grant Writer
 * Michael Reitz - Director and Legal Analyst, Labor Policy Center
 * Marsha Richards - Director, Education Reform Center
 * Joel Sorrell - Multimedia Specialist
 * Booker T. Stallworth - Communications Director
 * Dan Steele - Multimedia Assistant

Political Activities

 * In 1996, EFF filed a campaign finance complaint against the Washington Education Association (WEA), on behalf of a group of teachers. The complaint accused the WEA of using union dues for political activities without its members’ consent. In 1998 the union settled the case, agreeing to pay more than $400,000 in fines and refunds.


 * In May 2001 the Portland Development Commission sued WEA for more than $600,000, after determining that the union did in fact misspend dues as alleged by EFF. At issue was the WEA’s use of “fees” paid by nonmembers. About 4,000 of the 70,000 teachers the union represented were nonmembers. They paid fees for collective bargaining and other nonpolitical services. However, the state attorney accused the WEA of improperly mixing nonmember payments with regular union members, and spending part of that money on political action.

In July 2001, a state superior court ruled against the union and ordered it to pay a $400,000 fine and $200,000 in legal costs. But a state appeals court and the Washington Supreme Court later ruled for the WEA, holding that Initiative 134 “unduly burdens unions” and is unconstitutional.


 * Media Transparency reported on EFF's work against the Washington Education Association: "Evergreen, which enjoys 501 (c) (3) nonprofit tax status, claims in its literature and on its web site to be a "public policy research organization" – a local think tank claiming support from some 2,500 donors. On it tax returns, Evergreen describes its mission as "educational research and analysis." Newsletters and fundraising mail tout Evergreen’s advice to Washington state legislators on budget and tax issues, reducing growth management regulations, and privatizing public services, including schools. The tidy mission of a public policy group, however, is merely Evergreen’s public face.

In truth, Evergreen has built its revenue base and committed much of its expenses on a seven-year public relations and legal campaign to curb the Washington Education Association’s (WEA) use of dues for political purposes – the country’s most sustained and targeted "paycheck protection" campaign. Much of Evergreen’s work -- and its subsequent expenses and its fundraising – is tied to legal complaints in the courts and in Washington state’s Public Disclosure Commission. Evergreen carries on an agenda driven by its president, former Republican state legislator Bob Williams – an unsuccessful gubernatorial and congressional candidate -- and executed by Evergreen’s staff of active Republican political operatives and insiders."

Contact details
PO Box 552 Olympia, WA 98507 Telephone: 360-956-3482 Email: info@myfreedomfoundation.org Fax: 360-352-1874 Website: http://www.effwa.org

External resources

 * Official site
 * HeraldNet, "State looks to you for traffic solutions"
 * Ballotpedia, "Evergeen Freedom Foundation"
 * ConservaBlogs, "Please Welcome the Evergreen Freedom Foundation to CB"
 * Seattle Times, "Court rules against unions in fee case"
 * Seattle Times, "Union fight reaches high court"
 * The Wall Street Journal "Unions' Policy Test"
 * Education Week "Supreme Court to Hear Case on Union Fees"
 * Komo TV "Evergreen Freedom Foundation Details Boeing 7E7 Agreement"
 * Media Transparency, "Evergreen Freedom Foundation" background and funding.